A Family to Remember
by beckyhay13
Summary: This is the story of a girl in the small town of Sparta, Mississippi, and one of the greatest and most unexpected families she could ever have in her life, especially while trying to find herself at only 17.
1. Ch 1: Intro to story

Ever since I could remember, I've lived here in the little town of Sparta, Mississippi and gotten to know the people well and how to greet incoming passersby, if it happens to be their first time in our cozy town. Many people who travel through here are not familiar with our town, as it's a smaller town and doesn't get much in terms of travel recognition. However, it just so happens that a few local jury cases get statewide attention due to severity and out-of-state relations, making us visible, I guess for slightly wrong reasons.

My name is Sarah, and my family goes back generations here in Sparta, allowing me to truly call this place home. There are many people I know here, however the people I have become closest to are the ones many people try to stay the furthest away from: the police. Here, the police officers help protect us on levels higher than those who serve for bigger cities. They truly know us for who we are and have our backs no matter where you go.


	2. Ch 2: An introduction

On normal days after I am let out of classes from Sparta High, at around 2:30, I stay after for a bit for tutoring or to hang out with friends, then head straight over to the police station so I can say hello to everyone. In a way this is like my ritual and doesn't feel quite right without it. However today doesn't seem to be like one of those days; when I walk through the two sets of double doors into the station after climbing several steps, I notice that about half the squad is basically running around the front section trying to get out the door. Some are going around the corner to the left in order to ask Chief Gillespie something before they head out or heading down to the back, and others are heading towards my direction through the small gates to my left to head out the doors I just came in from. The only person I see sitting down is officer Parker Williams at the side desk minding to the officers' radio.

_I wonder what's going on here. It basically looks like a madhouse in here or something._

After what seems like forever standing in front of the main desk wide eyed, Parker looks up and greets me, with a slight edge to his look, while trying to cover it up in his voice.

"Well Hey there Sarah, how'd school go today?" Parker asks

"It went well, same as usual. Say, what's going on in here? It looks like the running of the bulls from down here," I ask.

I'm quite a bit shorter for my age, as I'm 16 and only 4'10, still, after what seems like forever from my last growth spurt. If you can even call it that.

"Oh, remember that one older woman that lives over on old Route 12, she called in a few days ago and said she kept hearing what she described as pounding noises outside?" Parker asks.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. I thought that claim sounded slightly suspicious."

"Well it seems that someone broke into her house and assaulted her as she was walking in and pulled a shotgun on her. Thankfully she wasn't killed, but she did get beaten pretty bad," Parker said, a little bit of worry on his face.

I look at him with a shocked look on my face. I could just feel it getting paler by the second.

"Oh my, that's horrible! How serious were her injuries?" I ask him.

"I don't know yet, she's heading to the hospital right now. I'm sure we'll hear from Dr. Rob as soon as he checks up on her… I just hope she'll pull through without anything worse happening," he says, now the worry back in his voice to match his face.

_Damn, that all does sound pretty rough, especially seeing as she's older and can sustain injuries easier than me or Parker. Wait…_

"Wait a minute, if that's what happened, why is it that everyone's freaking out here and it looks like a madhouse?" I ask.

Parker must have forgotten that piece of information, because once I brought it up his face sparked as if a memory came flashing back.

"Oh, the suspect in this case seems to have a similar MO as an out of state murderer that has gotten away with slightly worse things than this."

Just as Parker said this, Lt. Lonnie Jamison came over the radio trying to get in touch with Parker.

"Parker, you there?" Jamison asked.

"Whoo- sorry Sarah, got to take this. Yeah Lonnie, I'm here…" Parker told me.

At this I decided to look around to see who else is here and spot the Chief in his office still, this time looking as if he's about ready to make a speedy getaway out, more than likely to the same event that has just taken place.

Coming out of his office, I could tell that he was worried as he looked slightly more bug-eyed behind his silver aviator prescription glasses, and the worry lines around his face were more accentuated than normal. Granted he is getting up there in his years, but today they seem more accentuated by his worry rather than age. He is followed by officer LouAnn Corbin, who stands at just under Chief's nose, around 5'3.

They both begin coming around towards the front to go out the front double doors when Chief Gillespie stops in front of me to tell me something.

"Well good afternoon Miss Sarah, I hope you're doing good so far today." After this he stares at me for a second or two, then proceeds through the door.

"I'm good. I just hope you're going to be ok…" I mumble as the two of them exit the station. I stood there for another few seconds, then decided to head on home. Which happened to be a few streets over from old Rt 12.

I rode my bike towards home and came across the scene that Parker described earlier, and it looked like they were getting towards the end of it, getting close to wrapping everything up. There still were a few officers left going in and out of the house, but the main crime lab unit was already putting everything into the van and getting ready to head out. There was tape wrapped around the front of the house signifying that it was a crime scene, and currently two officers coming out the front door and down the porch steps.

I got off my bike as I approached the house, then saw Jamison talking to the one and only Detective Tibbs. Both are fairly tall, Jamison a little taller than Tibbs, and Tibbs having no southern accent like ours as he came from Pennsylvania.

As I approached them, I could hear them talking about what they found and suspected as a motive for this crime.

"…yeah well it just doesn't seem to make mu- well hey there Sarah, didn't expect to see you coming through so early in the afternoon," Jamison tells me, slightly shocked at my being there. For some reason you can tell almost exactly what he's thinking just by the way his face looks. In a way I guess that may be his way of transparency, which can be good or bad depending on the situation.

Detective Tibbs looks at me and says, "Hey Sarah, nice to see you again," in almost the same manner as he always does: looking at me like if he halfway does, halfway doesn't want me to be there, and saying it as though he's trying to say that behind his words. His tone of voice sounds like that with most people honestly, although his face shows almost nothing; his face is almost the exact _opposite_of Jamison's, showing almost no expression, which is strange in this place due to what has happened at this lady's house.

"Hey guys, nice to see you all, too. Say, what exactly happened here anyways? All Parker told me was that an older woman got shot here earlier, and that the suspect had a similar MO to another out of state murderer. To me that sounds a little bit creepy for our area, doesn't it?" I ask both of them.

"Yeah, that's what I was fixing to tell Virgil here once you came up. What essentially happened here was that a man broke into this woman's house, Mrs. Stone is her name, and assaulted her pretty badly with a gun. So far that we can tell nothing's been stolen, at least not anything that seems out of the ordinary like money, jewelry and other things of the sorts."

"Which doesn't make sense to me;" Tibbs cuts into what Jamison is saying. "The suspect that we have in mind comes from Georgia and assaults his victims with a gun, but kills them right afterwards, with that gun. Along with that he ends up taking things that are either of minimal value to the person or that aren't very noticeable to police when they do a sweep."

While listening to this I begin to think of what type of man, or person in general, could do such a thing. And why they'd only take small things instead of cash or high-end jewelry typical of a murder-robbery.

"Hmm… well maybe the person could be trying to get off on something? Like they may be useless to most people but useful to the suspect in some way, like just a keepsake," I bring up. Not much more than a thought but it's something.

The two of them think about it, then Tibbs says to Jamison, "That may just be the best reason we've got so far for what's happened, even though it's not much. Thanks, Sarah, for your input. When Mrs. Stone wakes up can you and Dee go to her and ask what she remembers?"

"I sure can. Catch you later. Same with you missy, I'll catch you later. Have a safe trip home."

I wave goodbye to both Tibbs and Jamison, then begin to head home myself. Once I get home, I begin doing my homework until my mom comes home. I say hello and tell her about my day.

"Hey Ma! How was work?"

"Hey Sarah, it was good. Just a little busy, that's all. You're a little early, why's that?" Ma asks me.

"Well, I went by the station and Parker was telling me about what happened to that woman on old Rt 12, and I swear it looked like a madhouse in there. I only stayed there for a short while, then came home. I passed by the house that it occurred in and was filled in by Jamison and Det. Tibbs. Then I just came home," I told her.

"Well now that's an adventure! Yeah I remember seeing that on the way home. There weren't many people there when I passed by. What happened to her?"

"I guess she was beaten pretty badly and taken to the hospital."

"Oh my, that's not good! I hope she makes it out ok…"

"Honestly, me too," I reply.

We go about the rest of our day, my dad coming in later in the evening and we have dinner, then I continue with my homework.

For the rest of the evening afterwards my mind keeps floating back to this mystery.

_Hmm… who would want to hurt an elderly woman seemingly for no reason? It just doesn't make sense…_


End file.
